The European Commission has described the weekend blackouts in Western Europe as unacceptable.

A cold weather snap wreaked havoc across Western Europe on Saturday, causing blackouts in Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Portugal as energy demand peaked.

Up to five million people in eastern France were affected. About ten per cent of French consumers were left without power.

Electricity cuts also hit in the North-Rhine Westphalian regions of Greater Cologne, the Ruhr Area, Sauerland and parts of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

The blackout hit France around 21:00 GMT, with services back in most places within the hour, according to energy firm RTE.

French prime minister Dominique de Villepin said the outage showed "weaknesses and shortcomings" in the energy grid.

He added: "The gigantic blackout that hit five million households in France is a good illustration of the urgency to commit to a European energy policy."

Although the blackouts lasted less than 90 minutes, EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs echoed Mr de Villepin's sentiments, saying the union needed an internal market based on "the very highest levels of system security".

"Energy security is better delivered through a common European approach rather than 27 different approaches."

She said she had written to parties to ascertain the precise cause of the blackout.

German utility firm E.On, owner of Powergen, was probably to blame for the power cuts after it revealed it closed a power line going over the River Ems to allow a cruise ship to pass by.

Italian counterpart Romano Prodi is calling for a common EU authority to oversee electricity distribution.



© Adfero Ltd

More Essential News